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Currents N io T da N Fou S y MNE Chi EN ©T EK oz R B The Gift of Time and Trust mes Ja Top actors hone their accomplishments in the haven of Ten Chimneys By PAul KOsIdOwski aomi Jacobson is surrouNdEd By a cluster The event is a showcase for the first Lunt-Fontanne of fellow actors as she performs a soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Fellowship, a new initiative by the 13-year-old Ten Chimneys Antony and Cleopatra. “The crown o’ the earth doth melt…,” she Foundation, created so that experienced actors from around laments with deep but stately sadness. As the monologue ends, the country can share their craft and explore their ideas Jacobson breaks character, takes a deep breath, and entertains without the typical constrictions of rehearsal and production a suggestion from a colleague: What if someone were trying schedules. As the program looks ahead to its second year, it’s N to keep Cleopatra away from Antony’s body? A silent actor clear the fellowship has meshed confidently with the spirit of joins the scene and it begins again. This time, the deep longing its namesakes, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, the pioneering turns frantic as Jacobson’s Cleopatra struggles physically to creators of the lavishly designed and meticulously restored get to the side of her beloved. The physical tension unleashes Ten Chimneys Estate in Genesee Depot, Wisc. breathtaking reserves of emotion, and when the scene ends, “I’ll never forget this experience,” enthuses Redgrave, Jacobson’s colleagues burst into heartfelt applause. taking a break from the Shakespeare workshops that formed So do 300 others seated in the audience at the Lunt- the backbone of the week. “These are all actors of great Fontanne Program Center in southeastern Wisconsin, accomplishment. It’s unheard of for such a group to all be observers of a moment that has gone far beyond the typical together.” The selection process began with a group of 10 acting-class exercise. The actors who have assembled here regional theatres from around the country. Each theatre during this July week—including Jacobson, a regular at Arena nominated three actors, and the foundation selected one. Next Stage in Washington, D.C., and her silent scene partner, Step- year, 10 different theatres will get the nod and a new cadre penwolf Theatre Company of Chicago’s Francis Guinan—are of actors will be selected in early spring 2010. It was recently among the most respected performers in America. On stage announced that Redgrave will return as master teacher. with them is British acting legend Lynn Redgrave, who has This year’s fellows echoed Redgrave’s enthusiasm, spent the past week gently encouraging exactly this kind particularly for the unique freedom of the work environment. of gutsy exploration of well-trod Shakespearean roles and Here was a week in which a group of actors could become speeches. selfishly devoted to themselves—stretch into roles and From left, Suzanne Bouchard, Lee Ernst, Lynn Redgrave, Mary Beth Fisher, Kim Staunton, Jon Gentry and Naomi Jacobson, at Ten Chimneys. 58 AMERICANTHEATRE NOVEMBER09 Currents speeches they’ve always wanted to try, ask to play a scene again without fear of a director’s wrath, or simply step back from a competitive and stressful work schedule to reflect upon their careers and their art. Participant Lee Ernst, nominated by Milwaukee Repertory Theater, says the greatest gift of the week was the message it sent: In a culture that all too often treats the arts and artists as expendable or interchangeable, he says, the fellowship N io was a gesture that proclaimed loudly, “We T da N deserve this.” Fou S y You might sAy it wAs a program MNE Chi eight decades in the making. It was in 1924 EN ©T that the Lunts made their landmark deci- EK oz R sion to sign with the Theatre Guild, the B mes pioneering New York company that brought Ja a model of European art theatres to the From left, Kim Staunton and dan donohue watch Francis Guinan and Naomi Jacobson perform a U.S. In doing so, America’s two leading scene from Antony and Cleopatra at the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship concluding presentation. stage actors separated themselves from com- mercial Broadway (and from Hollywood as Guild’s season ran from September to May. and Lynn began to visit more often, staying well—their film appearances were rare), Years earlier, an inheritance from Lunt’s on the grounds in a converted chicken coop. and committed themselves to a life of seri- father had enabled him to purchase 60 acres Eventually they turned the property into a ous, sometimes experimental theatre—and of land in Genesee Depot, a small town 30 summer retreat, meticulously reworking the much lower wages. They also signed on to a miles west of Milwaukee, where he’d built a main house and adding a Swedish-style log lifetime of unemployed summers, since the house for his mother and sisters. Now Alfred cabin that would become a studio and gather- 60 AMERICANTHEATRE NOVEMBER09 ing place. By the mid-1930s, Ten Chimneys ambitious and nationally visible program. their faculties tuned through work alone— (yes, you can count them) became a sort of “The program developed organically,” the rehearsals and performances that con- off-season sanctuary for both the Lunts and notes Malone, pointing to the foundation’s stitute their professional life. But a retreat for luminaries of the theatre world: Alexander focus on mentorship from its beginnings. like this offers the chance to be free from Woollcott, Laurence Olivier, Noël Coward, That, after all, is the role the Lunts played the pressure of “going on with the show.” Uta Hagen and Helen Hayes were among in the life of such actors as Olivier and And for these experienced actors, it offers the regulars. Montgomery Clift. Like the informal sum- the luxury of working with peers of equal After the couple’s deaths (he in 1977, mer gatherings, readings and dinners that skill and accomplishment. “Here, there’s she in 1983), the estate fell into disrepair and had echoed through the estate in decades no way to hide behind a booming voice or almost fell victim to the developer’s wrecking past, the fellowship would provide time pull out your bag of tricks,” confesses Dan ball. But in 1996, a Madison entrepreneur and space for growth and rejuvenation for Donohue, a longtime company member of and arts advocate, Joe Garton, stepped in to what Malone calls “the best of the best” of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival of Ashland. stage a dramatic, Belasco-style rescue. In a American theatre practitioners. “I knew that all of these actors would see that few short years, the Ten Chimneys Founda- It is an idea, the actors in the program and know the difference—so I had to go to tion had raised $12.5 million to completely will tell you, whose time has come. While a place of honesty.” restore the property and open it (in 2003) to retreats and workshops for writers, composers The estate’s legacy as an energizing the public. More than a museum, the Lunt- and visual artists are mainstays of the arts retreat is not lost on the fellows. “It’s like Fontanne Program Center offers facilities to landscape, such opportunities for mid-career being in an environment where stepping host conferences and workshops. actors are rare. “We talked about models for back from the work is actually part of the At one such event—a 2006 gathering of the fellowship when we first got together,” work itself,” Donohue reasons. “It’s an inspir- Wisconsin-based actors—Laura Gordon, a says Jacobson during a break following her ing place that somehow reverberates with Ten Chimneys board member and longtime Cleopatra scene, “and there was nothing. the intention of the people who lived there member of Milwaukee Rep’s resident acting There really is nothing like it.” before. They used that place in the same way company, asked a simple question: “Where Surprising but true. While opportu- we do—to refuel, to be inspired, to become do the mentors go to be mentored?” For nities for actor training are ubiquitous in rejuvenated.” foundation president Sean Malone, that query America, there seems to be an assumption As a Wisconsin-based actor, Milwaukee became the seed of the organization’s most that mid-career actors keep their art alive and Rep’s Ernst has lived close to the Lunt legacy NOVEMBER09 AMERICANTHEATRE 61 Currents and sensed the connection even before he arrived. Prior to his 17 seasons at the Rep, Ernst worked with American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisc. The Lunts were profound influences on APT’s founders and its artistic director, Randall Duk Kim, who embraced the meticulous naturalism and attention to detail—overlapping dialogue and all—that the Lunts cultivated. Even more important to Ernst and his N io colleagues, the actor says, was the famous T da N couple’s “passion for theatre.” Fou S “They could be extremely selfless at y MNE times,” Ernst points out, summarizing some Chi of the reading he did before arriving at Ten EN ©T Chimneys. “But they also would stand fast EK oz R and be adamant about their philosophies— B mes that’s what led to their ‘seclusion’ and their Ja commitment to the stage rather than film.” Scene work leads to a discussion between Jack Willis and Redgrave on weapons in Shakespeare. Lynn Redgrave was a perfect fit to lead the first fellowship workshop. While her Lady Redgrave, were living in London dur- Today, Lynn Redgrave is able to point name and professional reputation might tend ing World War II, Fontanne called to invite to the exact chair in the corner of the Ten to be a little intimidating, her easy manner them to stay at Ten Chimneys as a refuge Chimneys library where Fontanne sat when with the actors created an environment from the Blitz.

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